Very close, according to honorary research fellow in European Languages and Studies at the University of WA Noelene Bloomfield.

In a book launched today at UWA, Mrs Bloomfield explains why the French - who had claimed the western side of the continent, mapped its coastline and made important scientific discoveries - withdrew, letting Britain develop the nation.

Mrs Bloomfield said a series of circumstances leading up the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars in the late 1700s led to France losing its interest in overseas territories, including Western Australia.

"A captain called Louis Aleno de Saint Alouarn - who unfortunately died on the return journey and couldn't present his findings to the King - claimed the west side of Australia on Dirk Hartog Island in 1772," she said.

"Napoleon came in in the late 1700s, crowned himself emperor in 1804 and in that period although he was interested in overseas in territories he just got too caught up in Europe and gradually turned his focus northward rather than southward, so they let their chances slip through their fingers."

Proof of Saint Alouarn's proclamation on Dirk Hartog Island was not found until 1998.

According to Mrs Bloomfield, France missed out again when explorer Louis de Bougainville was prevented from reaching the east coast of Australia by the Great Barrier Reef, two years before Captain Cook landed.

The French names we are used to hearing were left out of respect for the cartographers and their discoveries.

"A whole lot of circumstances leading up to the French Revolution more or less wiped out France from overseas territories," Mrs Bloomfield said.